"Why come to India?"a famous yoga teacher was once asked."There is no reason to come to India"he replied."Then why do they keep coming?"we asked."Because they are mad!"he answered.
Perhaps it takes a touch of insanity to set out on a spiritual quest to India.If it is meditation or yoga you want,you can find it in the States.Plus you can drink the water...It takes a special kind of person to come to India.Intelligent.fearless,lucky,( it helps alot,if you are prone to Luck)...
And yet,a journey to India is its own kind of practice.offering it's own unique insights and risks.And no one coming here seeking wisdom will leave empty handed,
Although the gifts of insight may not be the ones you thought you wanted..Just as in an India resteraunt,the dishes that actually arrive may bear only a tangential relationship to the ones you thought you ordered.In India,the menu is not the meal.The menu are simply plans;the meal is what India wishes for you to recieve,like it or not..
There are many and varied reasons to come to India,sights,people,sounds,birth place of 4 major religions(Hindu,Jain,Sikh,and Buddhism).
But ultimatly,the reasonable reasons to come to India,are not why I came...As I prepared for India,I had no clear,understandable reason to come to India...As my departure date came closer,my reasons to go became more and more unclear.
At 1st,I lied and told everyone I was going on holiday...white sandy beaches,weather,you know,vacation stuff...Americans,they can understand that bullshit...But I knew,when I came,that India was going to slap the shit out of me,test me,and maybe kill me.
I tried the tourist stuff,lay on the beach,having brown men bringing me drinks,saying "yes sir,thank you sir"to me....I lasted 3 hours...I couldn't do it..
Seemed simple..Lay on beach.Tan.Drink..Did not sound to hard to me....It drove me crazy with boredom.I arose from my beach bed and said "Not for me."And I began my plans for my assault on finding "My Real India."Make no mistake here,everybody is going to come away with a different opinion of India.Even travel buddies.So I ventured into My India........
After 3 days,India has knocked me back on my heels...To be quite honest,I am not sure I would have come if I knew what was waiting for me..I can feel a pending change in me,in my thinking,the way I approach life,my perceptions of my world around me.And I am O.K. with that.I fear not the future.I fear not the change.I fear not...I live...I am...That is enough.
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....... (MY INDIA)
"But I don't want to go amoung
mad people."Alice remarked.
"Oh you can't heip that."said the Cat,
"We are all mad here. I'm mad. Your mad."
"How do you know I'm mad?"asked Alice.
"You must be"said the Cat,"Or you would not have come here...............Lewis Carrol
